


Streets

by BadlyWrittenFluff



Category: Life with Derek
Genre: College, Drunk Driving, F/M, Light Angst, Love Confessions, woods
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28401762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadlyWrittenFluff/pseuds/BadlyWrittenFluff
Summary: Casey turns halfway and waves the annoying source behind her off, kicking below her simultaneously. She only wins part of the battle and her car veers to the right abruptly.
Relationships: Casey McDonald/Derek Venturi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Streets

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Drunk driving, someone being sick.

Sometimes music alone was enough to get you in a mood. The bass could hit deep, make your body move of it's own accord. Casey McDonald's hips swayed as the tune playing in her car commanded.

The sound thrummed against her and she practically felt beats vibrate against the wheel. She takes one hand off of it and uses that one to run a hand through her hair 'seductively.'

Time, location and other mortal things couldn't concern her. She was sure she was heading to her and Derek's flat though...She doesn't remember ever taking a trip through the woods to get there...?? 

The world shifts to the left but is kind enough to rearrange itself a few seconds later.

Lyrics flow from Casey's mouth with the efficiency of a.... 

Drunk! She was drunk! Casey begins to laugh and giggle through the 'words'.   
It was funny, she kept thinking, shaking her head. She never got drunk, not since that one party - drunk! How silly of her. 

There was an infrequent glow that kept showing up below her and a constant one behind her. It was far too bright. The moon should be the only thing bothering her like that she decided. Everything else could wait their turn and stop harassing. 

She turns half-way and waves the annoying source behind her off, kicking below her simultaneously. She only wins part of the battle the presence at her feet stopping as her car veers to the right abruptly. 

Her stomach flips. The road ahead was blurry but still clear of obstacles. Another song just as seductive and loud fills the area with even harsher beats, slicker instrumentals. 

Casey fucking _loved t_ his one. 

Or at least she was 80% sure she did. It could have been the other song by the artist whose name she struggled to remember... something about a dog but it didn't matter to her so long as she could open her mouth to join the singer. 

**She couldn't**. 

A horrible feeling unmistakable in the manner it arrived went up her throat before thankfully going back down. It bubbled chaotically in her gut. 

Casey knew, better than she knew where she was now that she was going to vomit. 

All over her nice new fucking car, no no not on her smartwatch. 

She struggled to find the brakes her feet clambering all over the region around them before she gets finally it. Her car sputters to a stop and she cheers out in victory. 

Immediately Casey regrets that and swings her door open.

The sounds of her retching would disturb animals living nearby for an eternity but Casey herself finished up with a delicate wipe to her mouth and the decision to just lie down for a moment.

She could let the music wash over and heal her body she convinces herself as her eyes snap shut and the perfect level of light - none, caresses her. 

She swears she hears her name being called but chalks it up to her imagination as consciousness drifts away. 

* * *

Casey doesn't show signs that she's awake immediately because it was hard to open her eyes or move when her body ached so much with a single arm flick.

There was warmth and her head was rested against something cotton like and soft so that didn't help her motivation either. 

Groaning she used all her energy to lift her head up and found herself alarmingly close... to Derek's face. He is disturbed from his slumber and still recovers quicker than her while she is jumping away from him and fully into the passenger's seat.

"Der?" She asks. "What's going on?" Before he can answer she adds. "Why does my head hurt??"

He examines her solemnly before digging into a bag in the back. "I don't have water but take this."

Casey figures it's a painkiller and doesn't bother to look before swallowing it down. "Is that my car?" She inquires looking, instead, directly ahead of her. 

"What do you think Casey?" Derek replies tightly. 

"Der-ek!" Casey squealed. "Now's not the time for that. I'm confused and obviously hungover. My own voice hurts me right now so please just tell me what's up?" 

"You can't guess?" Derek retorted. 

Casey's pleading expression turns sour. 

"We were at a party." Derek continued. "We were drinking. I had a can. You drank a lot more.Your friend ran up to me telling me you refused to take a taxi home." His volume rises and sounds more frayed. "I followed you. Now we're here. Fill in the blanks."

A look of realisation clouds Casey and her mouth shapes animatedly into an 'O' shape. 

"Damn it Casey!" Derek's anger boils over his fist hitting to the side of him furthest away from her. The impact and the way he sounded as he continued to rant makes her flinch regardless. "What were you thinking?! I mean seriously! Drunk driving?! You could have... "

He trails off. 

Casey doesn't know what to say panic and guilt mixing into something more horrible than a hangover from hell. 

"Derek... " She murmurs. "I'm... "

"Never again." He cuts her off, looking dead into her eyes. A few of her eyelashes were damp with tears that threatened to spill over. 

"Case... I **can't** lose you."

The dam breaks. 

There was no hostility, no antagonism is his gaze. 

Casey saw something painfully touching in his bloodshot eyes. It was an entire well's worth of care, exhaustion and fear. 

She knew how much she must have scared him... and she couldn't deal with it. She fumbles for the door handle and he gives her the mercy of unlocking it. 

Escaping the once warm - then heated confines of Derek's prized car she could never remember the name of Casey runs both hands through her hair as every previously delayed truth hit her at once. 

"Oh my god... I'm an idiot. I'm an idiot." She rants. "I could have hurt someone. I could have hurt myself! Or an... " She looks around again. "Or an animal! I'd be the worst baby vegan ever! And Seraphine she looks up to me and I've been the worst example! How will I ever make it up to her?"

Derek comes around the car and watches her from the hood of it, leaning against his vehicle. She needed to get it out of her system so he doesn't interrupt all while knowing exactly how it would play out. 

"But I didn't. I didn't hurt anyone and I will learn from this. I have to. I will have the best self control going forward now that I know what will happen when I don't. I'm not immune to foolish behavior and I'll be more careful from now on regarding alcohol so this will never happen again!"

There's the optimism Derek counts off and waits for the last step trying to get his _own_ heart rate under control while hers spiralled. 

"But why did I do it in the first place? This is so unlike me. I don't even drink more than one beer usually. I'M the designated driver so why would I... "

Derek peers over. 

The investigation stage usually lasted longer than this. 

"You good Case? If you figured out why this happened I'd like to know too."

"It's..." Casey crosses her arms. "It's nothing."

"Oh really?" Derek responds sarcastically. "Well we'll just make sure nothing doesn't happen again and we'll have _nothing_ to worry about." He mirrors her action. "Glad we sorted that out."

"Derek... " Casey murmurs more than aware there was no joke in his words. Bitterness, yes. Nothing comedic that would earn a laugh track though. 

"I deserve to know!" Derek demands standing up straight. "I nearly had a heart attack chasing after you! Your car swayed once Casey. I thought you'd hit a tree.. I thought you'd fucking die right in front of me. I honked so much! I called you ten thousand times and nothing worked!"

"It doesn't matter Derek!" Casey flopped her arms to the side in exasperation. "It's not like you can fix what's wrong."

"Like hell it doesn't." Derek disagreed. "And like hell I can't!"

"Derek." Despite his temper Casey steps up to him, pulls out the big guns. "Please. Just let this one go."

Her puppy eyes would usually render him broken by piercing through his weak, weak heart. It was the only arsenal she had left besides straight-up refusal. 

The ammo brushes off him like a feather. "No. Tell me."

Silence. 

"Did someone bother you?" Derek tried to fill in the blanks. "I won't hurt them if you tell me Casey. I've grown past that. I promise I'll just talk to them. I just.. I just don't want this to happen again."

Casey submits, crossing her arms to her chest again. "Talk to yourself then."

She looks at the sky unwilling to watch any of his future reactions. Daylight had just come in but the sun was very shy that morning. 

"Myself??" He repeats. "What... what did I do this time?"

Casey shakes her head. 

"Tell me Case. I'll never do it again. I swear on my prized hockey stick." 

"Unless you want to stop...talking to girls I don't think that's true."

"Girls?" Derek asks dumbfounded. "Wait what?"

"This is going to ruin everything..." Casey mumbles, more to herself than Derek. 

"What is?" He urges.

"...Id like to remind you that you're backing me into a corner here. I'd never say this if you didn't push it but I'm... " Casey inhales a gust of fresh Canadian air and exhales a quick and passionate "I'm in love with you Derek!" 

The confession takes time to sink in.

When it does the same images that had burned into Casey's brain last night flashed through his. There was a girl two grades higher, a senior, and he'd been making out with her the whole party.

"Fuck... " He elicits before blinking. "Wait. Say that last part again." Turning Casey towards him, he lifts her lowered chin upwards. 

"What? No way! It was embarassing enough the first time!"

"Just _saaaay_ it." Derek insists. 

Casey takes a deep breath, huffs it out quickly. "I'm in love you Derek. There! Happy?"

"Hell yeah I am!" Derek proclaimed. 

"....You. You are?" Casey stared dumbfounded. 

"Damn. If that's what this is about... " Derek paces. "If that's why you got upset then we're both idiots."

"We are?? Derek... I don't get what's going on in that head of yours right now."

"Gina is nice and all but Casey - You've been my cheerleader ever since we got to this shithole of a college. Hell, even before that! You've been my best friend here and even my guy friends know that. It's you before them, no question. It's certainly you before any other girl on this planet... _Aside from Marti_. Point stands, why would I want some chick I hardly know when I could have the one I love?"

Casey's uncertainty switches. A bubbly glance his way sends his heart into a flutter. "You love me?"

"Yes. I do. Despite my better judgement -"

Der-rek!" Casey cuts him off. 

"No, for real." Derek takes her hand. "It's a bad idea. We have four whole siblings between us. But... I love you. You're smart, sexy- I mean honestly what are you wearing right now, are you _**trying**_ to kill me - and a better person than I'll ever be. I've been in love with you since the end of our last year in high school and... Just for the record, it definitely wasn't easy to see you flirting with other guys either."

Casey takes a moment to review her outfit because even she forgot what she had on at the moment. Something leathery and black which Casey could only guess she wore to impress Derek in the first place. 

"So we both hurt each other too much without even knowing it. I hate to admit it but... You're right Derek. We are dumb."

"No shit."

"Derek?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Lets be smarter from now on, okay?" Casey holds out her pinky. 

"You got it." Derek agrees, immediately bypassing her gesture to seal the deal in a better fashion, cupping her cheeks in his hands and kissing her so hard she squeaks.

"Derek!" She cried with a smile, pulling backwards. "Couldn't you have waited until I didn't smell like puke and morning breath?"

"Nah." Derek replies and leans in again leaving none of her skin available to him untouched by his lips, reveling in her laughter and then whimpers of pleasure when his cheeky tongue peeks out to play. 

"Hey Case. Think you can manage driving yet?"

"Yes. Why?" Casey asks thrown off by the sudden question. 

"Well one you really DO smell like puke and now I do too so we should probably go home and get showered. And now that we're being smarter I think we should make up for lost time and just go in together." 

"Oh!" Casey exclaimed in shock. 

He winks and she says "Oh... " again, voice dipping erotically. "That's a good idea! We can save water and... Ugh, Let's just go already!" 

He chuckles and once again follows her car home albeit under less life-threatening circumstances and, thankfully, with navigation that wouldn't have them lost in the Canadian wilderness for days. His blood however, was still pumping all the same. 

**Author's Note:**

> Derek & Casey were my first OTP ever as a small wee child and somehow through all the fic I've written on multiple sites I've never once posted a story about them. That has changed today!! I hope you enjoyed this read if you got to the end! Much love <3


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